This proposal requests funds to support the 2004 Cooper Institute Conference entitled, "Increasing Physical Activity in Populations: Understanding Diffusion and Dissemination." To be held on The Cooper institute's campus in Dallas Texas October 21-23, 2004, the conference will assemble a diverse group of leading experts to summarize what we know about the process of disseminating and diffusing information about physical activity and physical activity interventions, with the aim of improving the diffusion and dissemination process as it proceeds worldwide. The attendees will include professionals working in the fields of communication, behavioral medicine, psychology, anthropology, sociology, sports medicine, exercise science, epidemiology and public health. The conference will be co-chaired by David Buller, Ph.D. and Everett Rogers, Ph.D. with the aims of (a) developing recommendations for improving both programs and practice, (b) examining how physical activity interventions can be successfully tested and implemented in larger world populations, (c) identifying potential barriers to increasing physical activity programs in many countries and in many special populations such minority populations and aging populations., (d) discussing and developing optimal research strategies to measure the rate of adoption of physical activity interventions in world populations, and (e) developing a final set of recommendations for future research in the area and designed to promote the scientific study of the dissemination and diffusion process. A diverse and distinguished program committee has identified relevant topics for the conference, and has begun the process of identifying speakers for the conference sessions. Students and young scientists will be encouraged to submit proposals for a poster session at the conference, and awards for the best submitted posters will be made. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]